Crosspoint Ministry in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
by: Rev. Rurel Ausley, Jr., ATS Alumni of 1980
Thanks to my preparation at Asbury Theological Seminary, I have always had a hunger to be a global Christian. I knew God had called me to preach in the local church, but also He also called me to have a heart for the world. In 2008, with the collapse of the real estate market and the worldwide recession, our church, Crosspoint UMC in Niceville, Florida began calling for sacrificial offerings during Advent for the poorest of the poor throughout the world. At a time when the prevailing sentiment was to “pull in and hold back”, we felt led to dig down and give more sacrificially. We cast the vision that if we were hurting (and we were), then how much more were our brothers and sisters in Christ hurting throughout the world?
For several years, we funded many great projects such as digging water wells in Zambia,
building a community center for missionaries in Iraq, sponsoring seminary students in the Congo (DRC) and Colombia, helping human trafficking ministries and many other projects.
However, two years ago, I wrote Bishop Ntambo of the North Katanga Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and asked what his key priorities and needs were for his conference. For four years our church had been relating to that Annual Conference by training pastors and lay leaders with International Leadership Institute (Wes Griffin, International Director … http://iliteam.org/#equippingleaders). We had developed great relationships with key leaders there and it made sense to do something big there. The bishop responded with 4 major priorities, but one excited us beyond measure: the building of over 50 churches and parsonages with the price tag of $550,000! This was a ‘God sized goal” that only He could accomplish. The difference made would be monumental and eternal!
Our church leadership had already decided we were ready to embrace one major project that would make a gigantic difference (versus unrelated many smaller projects). So, over the last two years, our Advent offering– now named “Congo Christmas” –was designated for the building of churches in the DR Congo, specifically in the North Katanga Annual Conference. From those two Advent offerings alone, Crosspoint United Methodist Church has sent $270,000 for the construction of 27 churches and 2 parsonages.
This summer Bishop Ntambo invited me to come, see, and dedicate 16 of the completed churches, so our team has just spent two weeks in July doing xactly that!! Ten more churches are in construction. We
traveled by truck, motorcycles, and plane to reach far-away villages that were difficult to visit. Large-, medium-, and small-sized churches were built, but the best building in each village is now a Christian resource. All of the churches have experienced exponential growth with their new buildings. Churches with 20 in attendance were having over 200; those with 200 are having over 400.
In addition to the building projects, our church sent an additional $90,000 to purchase 485 bicycles and Bibles for pastors throughout the Congo (in partnership with Bikes and Bibles (http://www.bikesandbibles.org …Joe Kilpatrick ). We were able to present 60 of those bicycles/Bibles to pastors, this July, in North Katanga. A bicycle for a pastor multiplies his effectiveness–it’s his livelihood as well as his ambulance. The Bibles we presented were in the Kiluba language, the heart language of many of the pastors and people, and too expensive for a pastor to buy.
On a personal level, one of the most exciting highlights was preaching at the meeting of the North Katanga Annual Conference. This is our largest membership annual conference in United Methodism, with 48 General Conference delegates!! After preaching, in true Asbury Seminary fashion, I invited any that needed to make fresh surrenders to the Lord to stand….but none did! In great pastoral style, Bishop Ntambo walked to the front and began pressing the point home. Grinning, the translator said to me, “The Bishop is assisting you!” (The Lord knew I needed that!!) As the Bishop applied the Word effectively, a generous number of people stood up for prayer. The Bishop turned to me and stated, “There is your response!”
Henry Blackaby once wrote, “Find out where the Lord is at work and join him there.” In a nutshell, that is what Crosspoint is doing in the DR Congo. To see what God is doing there was exciting….to see what Crosspoint is doing in partnership with Him there, was exhilarating!!
Great job and great report, Rurel! Thank you for your faithfulness to Jesus Christ and the ministry of the church. Patti and I will be in Destin for the month of March 2016. We will certainly come and visit. Blessings, Wade
Loved the article, love what you are doing in Africa and love the Ausley family.
I visited Crosspoint over Labor Day Weekend. You could definitely feel the presence of the Lord in the worship service. God is moving hearts. Great work in joining God already at work,
Hi Rurel and Lisa, We read this story, and even before seeing this easy way to reply, wanted you to know we think what your church did was a wonderful gift to the people of the Congo – how heart-warming to hear at Christmas time!